Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-02-26
The Day of Small Things.
ltimore Manufacturers Record.

IiScS uAO ACSACClCu tuClO VIII w III
steady growth, no permanent pros
perity.
In a letter from Wadesboro, N, c.,
on another page of this issue, our
special correspondent repeats in con-
else form what has often been told
before, how adhering to one crop
makes the farmers poor. We might
with perfect safety paraphrase his ar
gument, and show how attention to
great enterprises to the neglect of
lesser ones retards the growth of a
country and the prosperity of its
people. 1t took the astute business
men of Great Britain half a century
or more to learn that with all their
commerce that covered the world,
and with all their mighty mills and
factories, they could not have steady
run of profitable business. until all
manner of petty industries were de-
veloped. On the other side of the
channel was France, whose people
had an intuitive understanding of this
matter, and nothing was too trivial
for them to make provided only it
was saleable. When the empire fell,
and the young republic ransomed it.
self from German control, the inn
mense sum of money demanded by
the victors was furnished at short
notice, because the savings from all
their petty industries, with what
came from the farms and vineyards,
made an aggregate so large that the
great corporations had no trouble in
supplying the balance. Had France
had only her splendid potteries, her
Lyons silk factories, her vineyards
famous in poesy and history, and all
other great industries for which she is
distinguished, it would have been the
work of years to pay that ransom and
escape that thraldom.
1t has been said by an American
philosopher that weed is plant
whose virtues or uses have not been
discovered. The South is full of
weeds of that kind, many of which
might be made the raw material for
very large industries. There is one
weed growing in the coast counties of
several Southern States whose fruit
had uses that were known locally for
several generations, but no one in
those States thought that in that use
was a business and fortune. A
Pennsylvania druggist in some way
became appraised of its virtue and
determined to utilize it. Out of that
determination came a celebrated
vermifuge, which made the fortunes
of several families and established a
large industry. Turn which way one
will in travelling through the South,
there is something always in sight
that is good material for beginning.
Let us instance few.
In how many places there is pipe
clay. Not far from Morganton, N.
c., a pipe is made by a woman that
acquired a great reputation among
Southern smokers years ago. The
originator is dead, but the daughter
continues the business. 1t was not
the artistic work that gave these pipes
their reputation, for they were rude
enough, but it was thepeculiar porous
ness and absorbent quality of the clay.
The low grounds are full of sweet
briar roots for bowls and of slender
canes for stems. The smokers of the
world can be furnished with pipes
from these sources if some one will
make it their business to do it.
In 1881 Florida had a most attract
i've exhibit at Atlanta. Among all
the wonderful and curious things
there grouped together none attracted
more attention than the pith of a large
gourd, shown as vegetable SPONGE
bathing cloth, " "dish rag" and in
the form of sun hats and bonnets, and
ladies' work baskets. The thought
that this pith or seed holder of that
particular kind of gourd originated
with lady at Kittrell, N. G. From
there it spread to Florida and Arkan.
sas. The Kittrell lady, Mrs. E. w.
Ellis, took the $50 gold medal offered
by the North Carolina Exposition in
1884 for the largest variety of useful
andDrnamental articles made by any
one person from North Carolina
product. She exhibited twenty-five
articles. Since then she has been in
steady receipt of orders for hats, bon.
nets, baskets, fans, and many other
articles. This "dish rag gourd''
grows in every Southern State. The
number of mercantile forms it can be
made tO acci1Y,,a oro inn,Ipooroh1a II